Read the testimony Ray Rice has submitted to the House Judiciary Committee. Download This File

Ray Rice recently told WBAL's Keith Mills that he decided to campaign against school bullying in response to the suicide last year of Grace McComas of Howard County. Download This File

Grace McComas' family attended Thursday hearing. They are (left to right) her father Dave, sisters Kara, Megan and Gloria and her mother Chris. (Photo by WBAL's Robert Lang)

Listen to WBAL's Keith Mills read the emotional testimony Ray Rice submitted to the House Judiciary Committee on the need of a Cyberbullying bill Download This File

Karen Brocklebank of Columbia shows off some of the letters sent to her son by total strangers, after he threatened suicide after he was bullied. (Photo by WBAL's Robert Lang)

Christine McComas testified about her daughter's suicide and the cyberbullying bill. Download This File

Cara and Megan McComas testified about their sister's suicide and the cyberbullying bill. Download This File

Karen Brocklebank of Columbia talks about the threatened suicide of her son, the cyberbullying bill, and the letter writing campaign she started to support her son. Download This File

During the House Judiciary Committee hearing, Delegate Kevin Kelly questioned the need for the cyberbullying bill and noted that the incident involving Grace McComas would have been handled differently in his district. Download This File

During the hearing, Duane "Shorty" Davis, Sarah Love of the ACLU and Ricardo Florio of the Office of Public Defender testified against the cyberbullying bill. Download This File

A measure to try to prevent people from using the Internet to bully children received a hearing today from lawmakers in Annapolis.

The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the Cyberbullying Prevention Act.

The bill, would prohibit electronic harassment of a minor based on sex, race or sexual orientation.

Violators would face up to a year in jail or a $500 fine.

Baltimore County Delegate Jon Cardin drafted the bill after a number of publicized cases of cyberbullying including last year's suicide of Grace McComas.

The Howard County teenager killed herself on Easter Sunday, after she had repeatedly been harassed online.

McComas' parents and two older sisters testified in favor of the bill.

Grace's mother Chris told lawmakers that this bill might have prevented her daughter's death, as the family could do nothing to stop the online harassment from a teenage neighbor.

"No one was able to make him accountable, or even make him apologize," Chris McComas tearfully told lawmakers.

"We trusted that they would help us, and Grace trusted all of us to help her and we failed her miserably."

Grace's oldest sister Cara, who is a nursing student at Stevenson University also testified.

"The first time I ever did CPR was on my sister last Easter morning. This should have never happened," Cara McComas told the committee.

Baltimore Ravens' running back Ray Rice, who has started a foundation to fight school bullying, offered written testimony to the committee.

WBAL's Keith Mills, who has volunteered for Rice's foundation, read the testimony at the hearing.

In his written testimony, Rice describes how his younger sister was bullied recently at school.

"We cannot protect every child from bullying, but we can protect children from being bullied over and over again. A law like this helps people like me and other responsible adults by allowing us to protect our loved ones from repeated and traumatic bullying.," Rice says in his testimony.

"Anything we can do to prevent one more child from taking their life or suffering through the pain and anguish of bullying, is the right thing to do. I believe that this law may have saved the life of Grace McComas and it certainly will save the lives of other young men and women in the future," Rice added.

Karen Brocklebank of Columbia also testified.

She told told lawmakers about her 13 year old son Noah, who threatened suicide after he was repeatedly bullied online.

Brocklebank started a worldwide letter writing campaign in which people were asked to send letters of encouragement to her son. Noah has received cards and letters from as far away as McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

She says legislation like this would put a stop to cyberbullying.

"Cyberbullying is not something you can just turn off. It is another far reaching tool in the bully's arsenal," Brocklebank told the committee.

Some members of the committee questioned the need for this bill.

Garrett County Democratic Delegate Kevin Kelly said the school system and prosecutors in Howard County failed Grace McComas, noting the matter would have been handled differently in his district.

"I guarantee you one thing, they would have dragged that young kid in, with his parents and read the riot act, and it would have stopped. I cannot believe with all of the laws out there, and all the resources that something like this could happen," Kelly said during the hearing.

Ricardo Flores, an attorney with the Maryland State Office of the Public Defender testified in opposition to the bill, noting this type of bullying is already illegal under the state's harassment law.

"Our position is not that the incident or behaviors shouldn't be illegal. Our position today is that most of it already is," Flores testified.

Several witnesses who opposed the bill also questioned the constitutionality of the bill.

"While those things that are dealt with in the civil sphere, they are not nearly specific enough to withstand constitutional scrutiny to be crimes."

Duane "Shorty" Davis of Baltimore also testified against the bill.

The activist said the bill wouldn't stop bullying, noting that there needs to be more anti-bullying programs in schools and in community centers, to change attitudes.

"When it comes to cybernet bullying...you don't have to have more laws on the books, you have to have more people concerned," Davis testified.

Davis received notoriety in 2011 when he was accused of of placing a phony explosive device in a public place, and making a false statement to police, after he placed a toilet containing newspaper clippings and a black and white television in front of the Old Baltimore County Courthouse in Towson.

He was acquitted of all criminal charges later that year.

The incident was a form of political protest and to call attention to the 2006 murder of his son which occurred outside Chicago.